Overview
Landry Academy’s Computer Camp 2014 had ten students - from CA, FL, GA, IL, LA, MD, PA, TX, and Mexico. Most had never touched a compiler before this class.
On the first day, we spent several hours installing the tools that we needed to create games. We had a brainstorming session during that time to plan what type of game we would build. The class zeroed in on a side-scrolling smash’em up, similar to Castle Crashers. The design supports one to four players.
The players are aliens who are spooked and run into a haunted house. The group works their way through the house, battling all sorts of baddies.
The game’s art is a mix of characters and monsters from Kenney’s assets.
Unfortunately, as is the case with such tight deadlines, so many features were trimmed from the game that it became less a castle crawler and more of a survival game. The players remain in the starting room as baddies keep coming to them. We also didn’t have time to implement a boss screen, as originally planned.
There is no player select screen. The controller you’re using dictates which character you play. And however many controllers are plugged in (one to four, as limited by XNA) dictates how many avatars appear in the game.
To balance the game for a varying number of players, a single player gets four hits before death, two players get three hits, three players get two hits, and if there are four players, each may only receive one hit before they are removed from the game.
The game’s art is a selection of characters from Kenny’s public domain assets.
The 2014 Camp game can be downloaded from the following URL:
http://camps.moreoncode.com/Camp2014/
Our Game
Now that we have more time, we’ll build the game that the students wanted to build in the first place. The fact that we were able to trim some features and easily build a different game type should show you how similar a castle crawler and a survival game can be. In fact, a survival game is actually one component of a castle crawler.
The gameplay is fairly formulaic. Players move through the castle, killing baddies and collecting rewards. Every now and then, they’re stopped in their tracks by a horde of enemies that attack from both sides. Once the invaders are defeated, the players continue their journey through the castle.
At the level’s climax, the players encounter a new, more powerful enemy. This is the boss screen. There may be some minions that come to the aid of their leader, but the primary goal of this part of the game is to defeat the boss.
As you can see in the concept sketch, step two (“Battle Hordes”) is a survival game, but with an achievable end. The baddies don’t keep attacking forever. Even though it may feel that way in the heat of battle.
Summary
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Review Questions
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Exercises
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